Divide (2 page)

“Pssh, when have I ever needed to?”

Twenty minutes later, we parked in the lot behind the Harbor House Café in Dana Point. My stomach growled just thinking about it. Cheese fries and a chocolate shake: the lunch of champions.

Cam clapped his hands one time, his thoughts clearly mimicking my own, then climbed out of the car. He pulled off his water polo jacket, revealing a shirt that was about two sizes too small and stretched around his arms, showing all of his muscle definition.

“Your shirt. Are you serious?”

He flexed his bicep and winked at me, his brown eyes sparkling. “The ladies love it.”

I shook my head at his ridiculousness.

Cam ran a hand over his cropped brown hair, then matched his pace to mine and draped his arm across my shoulders. Clearly still stuck on Leslie, he asked, “Did she say anything different this time? Anything to change your mind about her?”

“What, like the past few months were all a big mistake, and I’ve only been dreaming that she slept with my best friend slash boyfriend? Nah. She didn’t say anything like that. I’m pretty sure this all actually happened to me.”

“Yeah, well, their loss, Holl.” He squeezed my shoulder.

“Yeah, their loss.”

Cam had said those words so many times, and I was pretty sure he believed it was their loss. I wasn’t so convinced anymore though.

Mick

“It didn’t…it didn’t go very well.”

Ro stood in front of the big French doors, facing outside—avoiding my eyes. I was trying to stay calm, but could feel my blood pressure rising as I waited for further explanation. This was a pivotal moment for me, for us, and if Ro had messed it up…

“What do you mean, ‘it didn’t go very well?’” I prodded.

“Um, I may have approached her wrong?”

“Why is your statement sounding remarkably like a question, Ro? Did you or did you not introduce yourself to Holland Briggs today?”

“I did. And I think she hates me.”

“Dammit,” I said on a sigh. “You know how important this is.”

“I know,” she said as she gazed down at the floor. Her toes played with the strands of carpet beneath her feet, and she didn’t look up at me again. “I just…I don’t know…sometimes I just act differently than other people, and I guess—”

“You guess this was one of those times?” I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath. I never yelled at my little sister, and I wasn’t about to start now. I needed to remain calm. Whatever happened, we’d fix it. Though I loved her for all her quirks, I was pretty frustrated with the fact she chose this situation to let her freak flag fly.

“Okay, start from the top.” Maybe the circumstances weren’t as bad as she made them sound.

“Well, I found her crying in the girls’ bathroom, so I introduced myself.”

“That doesn’t sound too horrible,” I said, wondering if she was leaving something out. I felt a small pang in my chest at the mention of Holland crying. Even though I knew she’d been through hell in recent months, hearing about it bothered me.

“She bit my head off and said she didn’t want any more fangirls.”

“Fangirls?”
I chuckled at Holland’s word choice—I couldn’t wait to finally meet her. “Makes sense. She probably just thought you wanted to talk to her because she’s known as the freak who tried to kill her ex.”

“I didn’t really have a chance to tell her otherwise, because she stormed off.”

“Okay. This is doable. You’ll try again tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah, for sure Mick. I want to help her as much as you want to.”

I raised one eyebrow.

Ro’s cheeks flushed. “Sorry. Maybe not as much as
you
do, but close. I don’t want all your research to go to waste either, Mick.”

“Research? You know how much
more
than research this is, kiddo. This is…life and death.”

“I know.” She turned away, heading for the kitchen, then glanced back at me. “And I want you to be happy.”

I smiled and shook my head. I wanted to be happy too, but this wasn’t about my happiness. This was about Holland Briggs, and what I could do to save her.

What I was born to do.

Holland

Friday was uneventful, save for the occasional mournful glance thrown my direction from my ex-best friend, and the somewhat surprising reappearance of my new biggest fan.

Rosemarie wasn’t in any of my classes, thank God, but she did manage to appear out of nowhere when Cam and I were just about to get into my car after school.

“Hey, Holland!”

“What the hell?” Cam jumped—she’d clearly startled him.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Cam, meet Rosemarie. Rosemarie, my little brother, Cameron.”

“Little?” Rosemarie scoffed. “Hey, Cameron, it’s nice to meet you.” She extended her arm and waited for Cam to accept her hand.

Cam raised a dark eyebrow and crossed his arms, clearly analyzing Rosemarie. He’d become so protective over me these past few months, but this was a bit extreme. She was a bit persistent, but she seemed harmless enough.

I cleared my throat, hoping to remind Cam of his manners.

He slowly shook her hand. “Hey, Rosemarie. It’s, uh, nice to meet you, too?”

Rosemarie ignored Cam’s half-ass statement, and turned to me. “So, you guys headed anywhere tonight? I know of this killer party at a warehouse in Huntington if you want to come.”

“Dude, didn’t you just move here? How do you know about parties all the way up in Huntington Beach?” Cam asked.

“Well, I didn’t move here from the
moon
, Cameron. I moved here
from Huntington Beach
.” She slowly enunciated the words as if they would be confusing for him, and I watched as my brother’s eyes tightened, indicating his annoyance.

“Yeah. Got it.”

“So,” she turned back toward me, “you guys down or what?”

I shrugged. “Sure.”

What? Had that word really just come out of my mouth?
She only asked us to go so she could show off her shiny new celebrity friend to her old friends, and everyone could get a kick out of meeting the girl who tried to set her ex on fire! What had I just done?

But something had happened when she mouthed off to Cam a moment ago. I actually…liked her.

Weird.

Cam’s wide eyes and clenched jaw told me my answer surprised him as much as it surprised me—then his quickly forming frown indicated his displeasure.
Whoops.
Because he’d long ago self-designated himself my guardian, when I agreed to go to the party with Rosemarie, Cam agreed by default. I couldn’t wait to hear all about my big snafu during the car ride home.

“Sweet! Where do you guys live? San Juan?”

“No, we live up in Santa Margarita. We’ll meet you somewhere off the freeway, if that’s okay?” No way was I giving her my address, even though she could probably get it from anyone at school.

“Sweet. The Carl’s Jr. off of Oso Parkway and I-5 work for you guys?”

I nodded. “That works.”

Cam glared at me. I ignored him.

“Nine o’clock then. See you guys tonight!” Rosemarie sprinted off to the sophomore/junior parking lot—which, assuming that meant she was in tenth or eleventh grade, would explain why she hadn’t been in any of my classes—her choppy black hair bouncing with each footfall, and I turned back to the car.

“She really does need a set of wings, doesn’t she?” I said, voicing my thoughts. “She’s so—”

“Are you effing kidding me, Holl? Why did you do that? I have plans with the guys tonight.”

Cam’s face was priceless. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was open. Then, his disbelief gave me pause. When was the last time I’d gone out on a Friday night, anyway? No wonder he was shocked. He usually only had to monitor me during school hours and the occasional random shopping trip on the weekends. Otherwise, one of our parents would be home and he could come and go as he pleased. Whoops. My bad.

“Cam, you know I don’t actually need a babysitter. It’s just a party. I’m not going to hurt myself.”

Cam winced, then I cringed at my own poor choice of words. Absently, I ran a thumb over my wrist and sighed.

“You know what I mean, Cam. Go hang out with your friends tonight. I love you, little bro, but you need to have a life, too. You can’t spend it worried about me. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“Did you just call me
little
? That’s the second time in the last ten minutes.”

Ah hell. The glint of amusement in his eyes warned me I was in trouble, and he raced to my side of the car in a matter of seconds. I tried to run, but he was too fast. Before I could react, I’d been thrown over his shoulder, my feet at his ear-level. With his hands around my ankles, he held me upside down over his back. My nose inched closer to the grass—a matter of seconds before Cam rubbed my face into the ground.

“Apologize!”

“Cam!” I squealed.

“A-pol-o-gize.” He stretched the word out as he slowly lowered my face closer to the ground.

“J’en ai assez!

“Gosh, Holl, I wish I knew what that meant,” he said with a laugh as he shook me again. If I’d had coins in my pocket, they’d have fallen to the ground by now. “But like most normal people in Southern California, I’m taking Spanish.”

“It means I’m fed up, Cameron! Stop!”

“You know what you have to do, Holl. This isn’t my fault.”

“Lo siento,” I snapped at him, meaning it in Spanish about as much as I’d meant it in French.

“Nice try, but no.”

I zeroed in on a pill bug crawling through the blades of grass—I would smoosh it if Cam lowered me any closer to the ground.

“Fine! Fine! I’m sorry!”

“That’s not all.”

“Cam!”

“Say it.”

“Ugh! I hate you!”

“No, I don’t think those are the magic words.” I heard the smile on his face without seeing it. “Have you forgotten them already?”

“Oh my God, Cam! Fine! You are not little. You are big. You are the King of the World.”

“Ah. That’s better.” He set me back on my feet, wearing the hugest smile. “You’d think you’d know better by now, sis. It surprises me what a slow learner you are. Really it does.”

“Jerk.”

We both hopped into Penny, laughter keeping us smiling, and my earlier lapse in judgment momentarily forgotten.

“But seriously, dude, what the heck were you thinking?”

Well, maybe not forgotten after all.

“That chick’s got a crush on you or something,” Cam continued.

Huh?
Oh.
That thought hadn’t occurred to me. Had she asked me out? I’d assumed she just wanted to hang out with a bigger outcast than she was, but if something more was happening here, and I said yes, then I led her on. I quickly replayed the conversation in my head, my eyes wide.

“No, no, Cam. You think every chick is a lesbian.”

“Wishful thinking.”

“Anyway, I remember. She asked us if
we
had plans tonight. Both of us. Not just me. She said ‘
you guys
’.”

“Still. When was the last time you went out on a Friday night?”

I’d been wondering the same thing. Probably before Rod and Leslie…

Cam seemed to follow my train of thought, and he squinted slightly before smiling, the seriousness of his question gone. “Well, it will probably be good for you. We’ll go. We’ll have fun. What could it hurt, right?”

“Right. But you really don’t have to go. I mean it.”

“Nah. I’m going. There’s no sense in arguing. This chick could be an ax murderer for all we know.”

I rolled my eyes at Cam. “She doesn’t look like an ax murderer.”

“They never do, Holl. They never do.” Cam’s expression was somber as he shook his head from side to side. “And seriously, if she kills you, and I’m not there, how do you think that will make me feel? Do you really want me to live with that kind of guilt for the rest of my life?”

“Oh geez. You’re ridiculous.”

“You love me.”

“Mhmm.”

“Why’d you say yes, anyway?”

I turned down the main road that would take us straight to our neighborhood, smiling as I remembered what had so strangely endeared her to me. “Honestly?”

“Yeah, duh.”

“I liked the way she talked back to you.”

“Ha. Of course you would.”

I glanced at him, catching a brief smile as he turned to gaze at the passing scenery.

By eight forty-five, I was happily full of fried zucchini, and waiting in the Carl’s Jr. parking lot with a still somewhat reluctant Cam, for our new friend to arrive. When she pulled up in a silver station wagon with a “Jesus Loves You, And So Do I” bumper sticker pasted below a red vinyl rose decal on the back window, I snorted and choked on my root beer. I guess I’d expected a slightly edgier car for the chick in the crazy-ass boots.

“Huh. She doesn’t seem like the Jesus type.”

“Nah, really, Cam? You think maybe she’s driving her parents’ car?”

“Easy there. I don’t want to have to flip you again.” He punched my arm and I cringed. His love taps began to hurt now that he’d grown so much bigger than me.

“Oh. Sorry,” he said. “I forget how fragile you are.”

“Pssh. Whatever.” I rubbed my arm when he turned his attention to Rosemarie.

She bounced over to us, wearing actual wings this time, and I briefly wondered if she’d somehow read my mind earlier.

“Hey, guys! Do you want to drive together or separately? I’ve got room in the Pussy Wagon if you want to hop in!”

Cam elbowed me. Now it was his turn to choke on his soda. I ignored him.

“No. Thanks though, but can we just follow you? I’m feeling a bit tired and don’t know how late we’ll be staying out tonight.”

“Sure thing! In case we get lost, grab my cell number, okay?”

Cam whipped out his cell phone and entered her digits. I’d gotten rid of my cell after the break-up. Leslie was the only one calling after that, and I couldn’t see paying for something—or expecting my
parents
to pay for something—that I wasn’t using.

We followed Rosemarie out of the parking lot in silence. Cam didn’t speak again until we were on the freeway heading north. I was surprised he’d managed to wait so long.

“Dude. She called it a
pussy
wagon.”

“She made a Kill Bill reference, Cam. Nothing more.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s wearing wings. Do you think we were supposed to dress up or something?”

“Nah. It’s February. She’s just a freak.”

“Stop it. She’s nice.” I glared at him and turned on the radio.

Was she nice? I didn’t even know. But she wanted to hang out with me, and that was more than anyone else had done in months. I’d probably find out later she was just using me for show-and-tell, or that we were actually going to a pyromaniac support group, but I’d try to stay positive.

When we pulled up to the warehouse a half hour later, I saw that luckily, no one else was in costume. Our new friend just liked to wear wings. Whatever. I couldn’t say they didn’t fit her persona perfectly.